BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China and France are actively advancing cooperation in the offshore wind power industry.
China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), the largest nuclear power operator in China, will continue to partner with Eolfi, a French floating wind power company, for a pilot floating offshore wind power project located in the sea off the Groix island in Brittany, and jointly complete data analysis in the mid of this year.
Winning the bid for the project in 2016, the consortium formed by CGN Europe Energy (CGNEE) and Eolfi is responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of the project's four large floating offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 24MW.
Eolfi is mainly in charge of project management, while CGN follows up the project in real time via a team of 30 engineers from eight countries, according to Olivier Texier, director of engineering and O&M at CGNEE.
The cooperation with the Chinese enterprise is beneficial for many French entities.
Olivier Texier said the localization of the Chinese enterprise in France helped him increase knowledge and improve professional skills.
Meanwhile, CGNEE supports a French startup by purchasing big data processing system from the local company and promotes the technology as well as the whole industrial chain, according to a staff at the global monitoring and data analysis center of CGNEE.
The cooperation with CGN will also help Eolfi export technology and products to the Asia-Pacific region in the future, as the wind and sea conditions of the Groix island is similar to those in many parts of Asia, according to Alain Delsupexhe, president of Eolfi.
In recent years, France and the European Union have made the construction of floating offshore wind turbines key projects for the future development of new energy.
Floating offshore wind turbines can harness abundant wind resource in the vast ocean surface, thus have greater development potential than traditional fixed wind regimes, said Yu Dachuan, executive vice president of CGNEE, adding that Europe is expected to install 50GW floating offshore wind turbines by 2030, and CGN, based on its advantages in the Groix project, may take a leading role in the development of the industry in France and even the whole Europe.
New energy industry enjoys broad prospect, stated Sybille Dubois Fontaine Turner, director general of Comité France-Chine. She also said that as China-France cooperation deepens, the two countries' desire for in-depth exchange and cooperation will become stronger, which together will form a virtuous circle. (Edited by Su Dan)
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